Well , here we are in mid-May , and it ain't so bad . We had like 3
frosts just a couple of days apart in mid/late April , and it looked bad
for a while . It got all the buds on many of our oak trees , my new
grape vines and the wild muscadines , and some tomato seedlings that I
had on the deck (enclosed area) . So it goes , the grapes have new
leaves , I lost a couple of 'mater plants , and the Rose of Sharon on
the deck (open area) lost her buds .
That's all history and things have turned around and we're going
gangbusters here now . We have 19 tomato seedlings doing well , the
green beans (blue lake pole variety on a 5 foot tall trellis) are a
couple of inches tall . The cuke and zuke and acorn squash hills all
have seedlings now , and the salad greens I planted a few days ago are
coming up . In an effort to avoid early blight I have covered the ground
under the tomato cages with cardboard . Just a hole in the center for
the plant . The goal is to stop soil splashing on the leaves since the
blight is a soil-borne fungus . As soon as they're taller I'll be doing
the same to the beans , as much to help with weed control as anything .
Any space that isn't covered by cardboard will be mulched with straw for
both weed control and to help conserve moisture . I haven't decided how
to do the vine crops , I might try using some of these empty dog food
bags as a sterile mulch for weed control . Straw hasn't worked out very
well for me for that .

Bee update - We're back to 8 hives now , but it looks good for all of
them to survive . One of the caught swarms decided to leave , and one
weak hive dwindled away to nothing . Of the 8 , 6 are doing very well by
*outward appearances , the other 2 were caught swarms and will take some
time to build populations . I'm looking for those clouds of bees that
buzz around the hive on "orientation" flights as that means they are
building up the population . I'm very very happy with the way things are
going out in the apiary this year .
*I'm a very hands-off beekeeper , I figure they've been doing it
longer than I have and know what to do without me in there messin'
things up . I will go into the hives about once a month or so to be sure
they're not doing something crazy like running comb crosswise and to
check for brood but that's about it until this fall when I'll be
stealing their honey .
--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crotchety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

Snag wrote:
Well , here we are in mid-May , and it ain't so bad . We had like 3
frosts just a couple of days apart in mid/late April , and it looked bad
for a while . It got all the buds on many of our oak trees , my new
grape vines and the wild muscadines , and some tomato seedlings that I
had on the deck (enclosed area) . So it goes , the grapes have new
leaves , I lost a couple of 'mater plants , and the Rose of Sharon on
the deck (open area) lost her buds .

i'm hoping the frosts are done for the season here.

i have peas up and growing and the strawberries are
flowering. i did replant some of the peas that did not
come up. 1 out or 11 had no peas at all sprout and
another had 3 out of 12 seeds sprout so i filled in the
rest to see if it was temperature related or it may be
the seeds were old (someone sent them to me so i guess
it happens).

we picked up the starts we need from the greenhouse
yesterday so we're ready to plant as soon as we can
get the plants hardened off. the vegetable gardens
are ready. at least most of them are. we're working
on removing some pathways now that are useless and
i have wanted to redo for many years. this will give
us more space to plant tomatoes. we're going to need
it.


songbird

In article , says...
That's all history and things have turned around and we're going
gangbusters here now . We have 19 tomato seedlings doing well , the
green beans (blue lake pole variety on a 5 foot tall trellis) are a
couple of inches tall . The cuke and zuke and acorn squash hills all
have seedlings now , and the salad greens I planted a few days ago are
coming


I have a queston about the squash.

I put some squash seeds on the "paper machay' type seed cups and used
the potting material that I use for tomato seeds. About half of the
squash seeds came up. A friend had some squash seeds that he put in
some potting pods and out of 12 pods, none of them came up. He later
put seeds from the same package out in the garden and they came up.

Is there something about the potting mix that the squash seeds do not
like ? Maybe they need to just be put in the garden soil ?

For tomatoes I started some inside and the plants were about 18 inches
tall. Put some outside after the first week of April. April 17 is the
average last frost date for the middle of NC. The forcast was for no
lower than 40 deg at night for the week before. Then in the 2nd week of
March some areas around here had frost. I tried something I read about
and put a lot of water during the day around the tomatoes. The 6 larger
and 8 smaller ones made it without any problem.

On 5/17/2020 9:18 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , says...
That's all history and things have turned around and we're going
gangbusters here now . We have 19 tomato seedlings doing well , the
green beans (blue lake pole variety on a 5 foot tall trellis) are a
couple of inches tall . The cuke and zuke and acorn squash hills all
have seedlings now , and the salad greens I planted a few days ago are
coming


I have a queston about the squash.

I put some squash seeds on the "paper machay' type seed cups and used
the potting material that I use for tomato seeds. About half of the
squash seeds came up. A friend had some squash seeds that he put in
some potting pods and out of 12 pods, none of them came up. He later
put seeds from the same package out in the garden and they came up.

Is there something about the potting mix that the squash seeds do not
like ? Maybe they need to just be put in the garden soil ?

I've never started squash seeds indoors . BUT every time I've used
those peat pots has been a disaster . Same with the little discs that
grow into a little "pod" when you wet them . It's probably not your
potting soil .

For tomatoes I started some inside and the plants were about 18 inches
tall. Put some outside after the first week of April. April 17 is the
average last frost date for the middle of NC. The forcast was for no
lower than 40 deg at night for the week before. Then in the 2nd week of
March some areas around here had frost. I tried something I read about
and put a lot of water during the day around the tomatoes. The 6 larger
and 8 smaller ones made it without any problem.





My seedlings were out on the deck getting more sunlight , I have
problems with plants getting tall and spindly sitting in the window .
That part of the deck is enclosed with plastic so I can use it for
construction related work . I knew it was going to freeze , so I put the
seedlings all in a box with a gallon jug of water to help moderate the
temps , but it wasn't quite enough and a few plants got frosted .
--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crotchety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

In article , says...
Is there something about the potting mix that the squash seeds do not
like ? Maybe they need to just be put in the garden soil ?

I've never started squash seeds indoors . BUT every time I've used
those peat pots has been a disaster . Same with the little discs that
grow into a little "pod" when you wet them . It's probably not your
potting soil .

For tomatoes I started some inside and the plants were about 18 inches
tall. Put some outside after the first week of April. April 17 is the
average last frost date for the middle of NC. The forcast was for no
lower than 40 deg at night for the week before. Then in the 2nd week of
March some areas around here had frost. I tried something I read about
and put a lot of water during the day around the tomatoes. The 6 larger
and 8 smaller ones made it without any problem.





My seedlings were out on the deck getting more sunlight , I have
problems with plants getting tall and spindly sitting in the window .
That part of the deck is enclosed with plastic so I can use it for
construction related work . I knew it was going to freeze , so I put the
seedlings all in a box with a gallon jug of water to help moderate the
temps , but it wasn't quite enough and a few plants got frosted .



Good to know that others have trouble with those seed pod things. I
never used those, but my friend did and no squash came up at all. I
used the 'paper cup'type with potting soil. Not really soil, but some
kind of ground up coconut shells from the description.

I do not have much of a garden, just about a dozen tomato plants, a few
squash and some years cucumbers and cantalopes. I start about 6
tomatoes inside eairly and a month or so later some more. Just in the
bedroom. There is a north facing window that I open the curtains during
the day for sun. After they start and the weather gets warmer I move
them to the attached garage and it has a window that gets lots of sun.
They are transferred to some pots about the size of gallon milk jugs and
regular potting soil. They do grow tall and spindly on me doing it that
way. I then plant them deep in the ground around the middle of April
(recommended last frost here April 17). They usually do ok as far as
growing.

On 5/17/2020 11:41 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , says...
Is there something about the potting mix that the squash seeds do not
like ? Maybe they need to just be put in the garden soil ?

I've never started squash seeds indoors . BUT every time I've used
those peat pots has been a disaster . Same with the little discs that
grow into a little "pod" when you wet them . It's probably not your
potting soil .

For tomatoes I started some inside and the plants were about 18 inches
tall. Put some outside after the first week of April. April 17 is the
average last frost date for the middle of NC. The forcast was for no
lower than 40 deg at night for the week before. Then in the 2nd week of
March some areas around here had frost. I tried something I read about
and put a lot of water during the day around the tomatoes. The 6 larger
and 8 smaller ones made it without any problem.





My seedlings were out on the deck getting more sunlight , I have
problems with plants getting tall and spindly sitting in the window .
That part of the deck is enclosed with plastic so I can use it for
construction related work . I knew it was going to freeze , so I put the
seedlings all in a box with a gallon jug of water to help moderate the
temps , but it wasn't quite enough and a few plants got frosted .



Good to know that others have trouble with those seed pod things. I
never used those, but my friend did and no squash came up at all. I
used the 'paper cup'type with potting soil. Not really soil, but some
kind of ground up coconut shells from the description.

I do not have much of a garden, just about a dozen tomato plants, a few
squash and some years cucumbers and cantalopes. I start about 6
tomatoes inside eairly and a month or so later some more. Just in the
bedroom. There is a north facing window that I open the curtains during
the day for sun. After they start and the weather gets warmer I move
them to the attached garage and it has a window that gets lots of sun.
They are transferred to some pots about the size of gallon milk jugs and
regular potting soil. They do grow tall and spindly on me doing it that
way. I then plant them deep in the ground around the middle of April
(recommended last frost here April 17). They usually do ok as far as
growing.


I bury mine deep too . I've never used that type of potting compound
, just use good ol' miracle grow potting soil and it works well for me .
I start mine in the little 6 cell trays , seldom re-pot them before they
go into the ground . When I set them out I mix 50/50 soil and rabbit
droppings and partly fill the extra large hole with that . I do the same
with hills , make them with the 50/50 mix then top off with a layer of
soil .
--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crotchety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !